Last session the group finished up the Portal Under the Stars module that is included in the awesome DCC rulebook. I reminded them that there is now a large red star in the sky that wasn’t there prior to descending into the sewers… Though they really don’t know what that means at this point.

The group started off the session with selling off some stuff and then looking for a place to clean all the blood and shit off of them. They were in the Angels District of Fairweather (I used my City District Generator to get a quick feel for the area).

Here is the Angels District:

The Thieves Guild is believed to be actively recruiting after losing many of its novice members after an unsuccessful venture.

A circus is in the district! Come see the freaks! Games! And exotic animals!

All the doors in the district are upside down. It is believed to ward off evil spirits, as it confuses them.

That was more than enough for me to go on and give it more flavor. The group found a Madame Velar’s Bathhouse of Pleasure. They were greeted by the batty old kenku matron. Nate and Chuck went the safe route and just wanted a bath. Omar wanted a human, and Jason wanted something more exotic… a mutant. Gene waited outside in case of trouble.

Jason got a mutant with coral for skin and lank green hair. He lost 3 HP, but his skin was wonderfully exfoliated, so he rolled all Personality rolls one step higher on the die ladder for 3 hours.

I will rub and scrub you clean

Omar failed his Luck roll and so the hands he felt caressing him belonged to a fat hairy man. Omar asked what the hell he was doing and after a quick conversation, Omar grabbed his wheellock pistol and strode naked to the lobby and asked Velra what was going on. They came to an agreement and Omar strode back to his bath to find all his gear was gone (it’s his fault… he left it). At this point Omar’s internet went out and he was unable to get it working (due to a 10 block outage).

The rest of the group had items of a curious nature to sell and found a curious shop simply called the “Emporium” by the circus. Inside was an ancient looking man. The inside of the store was massive compared to the simple and small exterior.

Highlights of the Emporium

Nate asked for a strange instrument. He was given a bizarre flute with weird metallic valves. The old man told him that there was no price, but that if Nate found something of interest, the old man would be there to collect. He was also given a poker chip and said that if he ever wanted to come back to the Emporium, simply flip that into the air.

Chuck had a medallion and map that he found in the Portal Under the Stars looked at. The old man confirmed that the Bogwood Swamp (as the picture on the map had shown) was where to go.

Gene bought a bracelet with wooden beads carved into little skulls. The old man said it was magical, and added most ominously that all magic has a price… Gene took it anyways and then promptly found a cleric of the God of the Terrible Whisper to examine it and tell him what it did. The cleric stated it would take at least a week to research the tomes in their ancient library. Gene let them make a sketch of the bracelet and then said fuck it and put it on. His Agility was increased to 18 (was a 14).

Into Adventure

As the group was leaving the library a town crier announced that the village of Glasturbury was having trouble with Malfactorium in the area. That their scouts were coming farther and farther into the plains from the Mountains That Crawl. Fairweather was sending a small attachment of troops, but that any brave and able-bodied soul was welcome to join.

The hideous beetle warriors, the Malfactorium

The crier also commented that several Plague Doctors of the Scarlet Veil had gone missing in a district that was becoming overrun with the Metalphage plague.

The group said fuck both of those and wanted to find a caravan that was heading to the Bogwood Swamp. After 3 days they attached themselves to the caravan that was heading to Glasturbury and then would have to venture on their own through the Mountains That Crawl to the Bogwood Swamp. The group stocked up, got some hirelings, and set off.

I rolled an encounter for the first day. They met 4 guards that were wandering the plains from Vengeance Keep. When the guard started their patrol one month ago there were 15 men. The 4 were headed to Fairweather to rest up and resupply.

Jason K asked what had been going on in the area.

The following was relayed:

Eisenbar Paladins have been seen in the Great Plains. This is most disconcerting since that means it could be an invasion force.

A small farming community to the south is shrouded in a grey fog and is in need of help (Group 1, Session 4).

Glasturbury is in need of help against the Malfactorium.

Bodies have been found mutilated and flattend, believed to be the work of stone giants that have been pushed out of the mountains by the Malfactorium.

A keep that belongs to a woman of decadence is one day to the east from where the group was. Most people don’t remember this keep being there.

The group talked it over and decided to investigate the keep before heading to the Bogwood Swamp. They asked the soldiers if they would like to travel with the group. And now they added three more red shirts to their number.

The group made camp and were set upon by 4 Vile Gut Clan Goblins. Nate’s hireling was killed by two crossbow bolts to the chest and one of the soldiers was killed by a log trap in the forest that smashed him (think Predator). All but one goblin was killed. The one that escaped shouted something about, “bringing more…”

We left off last time with the group licking their wounds after discovering a hidden set of catacombs beneath a tavern that was a place of worship to the Heathen Below. The group was victorious in killing the the acolytes and the cleric and fending off the various demons that had been summoned.

The session started with them back at the Exiled Noble Inn and Tavern meeting with Henry and Cybil, the only representatives of the resistance movement, Hammer and Sword. The group was told of a small village called Hallel that was 2 days to the south of Fairweather. Many of the members of Hammer and Sword have family there. The village provides the movement with much needed food and supplies. The village hasn’t sent anything for over a week and one day ago they got a message from the village mayor begging for help.

As typical with my group they yelled, “CHARGE!!” And went to a few shops to sell stuff and resupply, then slept, and then set off towards Hallel, traveling on the Great Plains of Unbidden Sorrow.

Finally having a session where they left Fairweather, it gave me a chance to try out my Lay of the Land and Encounter set up of the territories (I don’t have the Great Plains released- that’ll be in the book when it’s published, but here is the Land of Perpetual Stone and Mire as an example.

This actually backfired on me because I set it up as a 1-3 chance on a d6 that they would encounter something (even- Lay of the Land; Odd- Encounter) and I kept rolling 4-6… So no dice there… However in my group 2 session yesterday I said fuck it- I need to test this- and just rolled for a Lay of the Land and Encounter (one per day)- I’ll have a recap up for that session soon.

The group made camp and the watch for the whole night was the Murder Machines since they don’t need to sleep. They proved rather ineffectual at guarding the camp. First they were ambushed by 4 Vile Gut Clan goblins. Nate and Stephen each had one climb up their back, clap its hands over their eyes, and then vomit acid on their back.

The fight was a bit brutal- Stephen was reduced to 0 HP, but was saved that round by Nate. The rest of the group made short work of the goblins.

The second half of the night the Murder Machines were again ambushed by 3 bugbears and a giant spider (Bugbears worship spiders in Hubris). Nate was occupied most of the fight by the giant spider that had tackled him and knocked his ass out of a tree, where he was hiding.

This fight was quicker and the group made short work of the Bugbears.

The next morning they set off to Halell. As they got closer a thick grey fog permeated the area. Lisa decided that she would go investigate ahead of the group.

Lynchings Anyone…?

Lisa ran into two catty old lady villagers who directed her to the largest building in the town, which was the tavern/inn/town meeting hall to speak to Milton the Mayor. She did. Learning that the trouble the village is having is coming from the great chasm, The Maw of the Mangled God. That some strange figures in grey robes have been seen near the farmlands. Those that didn’t flee them have not been seen again. Also a massive serpent has been seen at the lip of the chasm.

The rest of the group sauntered up to the two old ladies, who promptly screamed that monsters were in the village (in Hubris, the other races are rare and on the occupation table there is only a 1% chance for each). The whole village quickly appeared with pitchforks, torches, and whatever weapons they could. Stephen didn’t help the situation by threatening the village should they have hurt Lisa. Meanwhile Lisa was busy looting the bar of its coin and good liquor before coming outside.

After a discussion with the mayor they learned that the village had reneged on an ancient pack with a strange monster that lived at the edge of the pit…. and that’s when the problems began…

So the group set off to the lip of the chasm with a few red shirts in tow from the village. We left off with the group about to begin the People of the Pit module! This one should be really interesting… and deadly.

This session was taken up quite a bit by BSing and catching up with one another. The group proceeded with extreme caution after the death in the previous session. The group actually only made it through three rooms during the session. As stated before, that can be attributed to over-cautious players and REALLY crappy die rolls during combat (resulting in longer than normal encounter- Snake demon, looking at you).

A few of the players were dropped to zero in room 6 when fighting the crystalline creatures, but Fletch was able to bring them back from the brink of death some groping (lay on hands).

We ended the session with them licking their wounds.

Session 4

Players:

Gene: Human Warrior

Liam: Mutant

Nate: Murder Machine

Chuck: Half Demon

Session 4 also was an exercise in caution, however they were- as Gene stated, “A Methodical Symphony of Stabbing and Killing!!” The group was smaller this time around, and the cleric was absent, so they started relying heavily on that caution and their HP potions. The group went into Room 7 where there are maps, and a few little items. I added a few things to the room.

“There are 3 red bubbling potions on the table (cure wounds 1d6+1). On a statue is good quality armor (chainmail +5 AC (but only -3 to ability checks), and a silver long sword (1d8+1 dmg, but 2d5 damage to undead).”

Alterations to the module: The group didn’t really delve deep in that room and look around. Had they done so they would have found a secret compartment that housed notes of the Warlord. I decided that I wanted to add a bit of weird and crazy to the module and Hubris. The warlord had discovered a realm that had strange and terrible beings of immense power and that there was a chance it could merge with Hubris and destroy reality as we know it. By imprisoning himself he could hold the realms entry into Hubris at bay, but this was not for selfless reasons, the Warlord hoped to absorb much of the power from that realm over millennia. The realm is the magical place of Carcosa! It’s the perfect place for a vacation and to raise a family!!

The beautiful and magical land of Carcosa

When the final boss fight happened my players lured the clay army from room 8 to room 7, creating a bottleneck that allowed them to deal with 1 or 2 of the automatons at a time. Eventually the Warlord showed his ugly face and they beat it to a pulp. Gene scored a critical hit on his bitchass and killed him, the Warlords dying words were, “do you realize what you’ve done…?”

The group, elated at their triumphant success, wandered back up to the surface only to find a bright red star in the afternoon sky (about the size of Venus)…

Liam: “Huh.. I think we done fucked up.”

Yeah.. More messed up stuff from Hubris!

All in all it was a great couple of sessions. I’m excited to see what group 2 does this Sunday and I’m REALLY excited to start introducing Carcosian things into Hubris (as if my world needed any more horrors in it).